
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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THE ALBANY RATIFICATION MEETING. 



SPEECH 



HON, J. D. BRIGHT, OF INJ)JA.\A, 

DELIVERED AT ALBANY, N. Y., JUNE 14, 1848. 



[ntrORTKD FOR THE ARGUt.] 



Mr. BRIGHT said: 

Fkllow-Dhmochats: Al this late hour of llii« iii-lit, I am not vain enough 
to believe that your call on me to address you proceeds fmni any 'ardent desire 
to hear nie. 1 apprehend that it is intended as a more com|)liment. [ Vehe- 
ment cries of " No, no."J I am too well acquainted with human nature not to 
know, that when an audience has stood some four houi-s on their feet, listening 
to individuals so distinguished as those who have preceded nic, they must 
necessarily be impatient to get away. [Renewed cries of "No, no."J To 
relieve you from any apprehension on this score, I will say, that my remarks 
will be very brief. Under dilTcrent circumstances, it w ould afibrd me pleasure 
to address you at length. Not that I have the vanity to suppose 1 could add 
anything to what has been so well said on the great cardinal principles of 
Democratic truth by my friend from Ohio, (Mr. Allkn ;) but, if time permitted, 
I could enlarge somewhat on topics w liich he did not fully |)resent. 1 dispense 
with all further preliminary remarks, except to say that I promise in advance, not 
to detain you later than 1'2 o'clock. 

I regard it as unnecessary, fellow-democrats, in this era of 18-18, to revert 
back to and discuss all the old' issues that have been before the country for the 
last twenty years. Nevertheless, as a party — the great Democratic party of 
the Union, the party that has made principle its guiding polar star frpm the 
beginning — we should not lose sight of these issues. It is important to us as 
a party — it is not less important to the country — that we should keep our eye 
steadily fixed on the great principles on w hich we stand. For I hold it to be the 
duty of every man, (I care not what his political feelings and views may be,) 
when satisfied that he is wrong, to stand forth and acknowledge the fact, and 
change his position. The Democratic party, standing on its principles and 
measures, has nothing to fear, nay, everything to gain, from a fair and candid 
examination of both, and may well challenge scrutiny and investigation. 

That the history of parties and politics for the last four vears is in itself 
practical proof that Democratic principles and measures are right and conducive 
to the benefit of the masses of our people, no man, in my humble judgment, 
can deny. The issues that were before us in 1810, and again in 1814, have 
been practically illustrated, and carried into successful and highly beneficial 
operation, under a Democratic administration. I take, for instance, the bank 
issue, on which the Democratic party took the side of firm and strenuous oppo- 
sition. The Whig party, as a party, as decidi^dly took ground in favor of it. 
The Democratic party proposed anil advocated a substitute for a national bank, 
which was once termed by our opponents the '"odious sub-treasury." This 
sub-treasury, gentlemen, has been in practical operation, under a Democratic 



2 . -^^^ 

administration, for the last four years, and is admitted, by every man who under- 
stands its practical results, to be one of the most valuable and satisfactory 
reforms ever devised or carried out in the management of the fiscal affaii-s of 
Government. 1 venture the 0|)inioii that there is not one man in a hundred, 
even of the Whig party, who is thoroughly conversant with the action of the 
old United States Bank, and with that of the sub-treasury, (so called,) who 
will not concede that the latter is all that could be desired, if not all that 
had been claimed for it by its authors and supporters, or whoy if he had now 
the pow er, would desire to exchange it for the old bank. 

Passing on to the tariff, was there ever a case where the predictions of a 
party were so thoroughly refuted by results as those of the Whig party in rela- 
lion to the operation of the tariff of '46? It was predicted, among other things, 
that that tariff, though designed to be a revenue tariff, would not yield eighteen 
millions of revenue. I refer you, in proof of this, to the speeches of leading 
Whig members of Congress. I refer you particularly to the speech of one of 
the most distinguished members of that party in the United States Senate, who 
rose in his place, just before the final vote was about to be taken, and pro- 
nounced a malediction on the bill, and on all who were about to vote for it — 
in the course of which, he uttered the memorable prediction " that it would 
not yield' eighteen millions of annual revenue," and " that it would result in the 
commercial ruin of the entire country." But what has been the actual result? 
The tariff of '46 has yielded, the past year, over thirty-two millions of rev- 
enue, every dollar of which has been brought into the treasury under the 
operation of that law, not for the benefit of a few, but for the common benefit 
of all. And here let me remark, that if I understand anything about the 
tenets of the Democratic party, their fundamental policy is, so to frame the 
laws of the land as to benefit all alike, without reference to a privileged few. 
And whenever they cease, as a party, to advocate measures having only that 
object in view, they cease to be worthy of the name they bear, and under 
which we fight. There are other important matters which I might refer to, that 
1 regard as settled. The Democratic National Convention lately met, and, in 
the name of the party, declared what they were for, and what they were against. 
They have said. We are in favor of the sub-treasury, and against a bank — 
in fiivorof a tariff for revenue, and against any system of taxation intended to 
benefit the few and prejudice the many. They have declared in favor of the 
extension of the area of freedom. They have declared their willingness to say 
to all, " Come among us, of every nation, kindred, and tongue, the oppressed 
nations of the Old World, here is room and enough for all ; come under the 
benign sway of our laws and free institutions, and share with us^ as citizens, 
the common inheritance which of right belongs to all." In a word, they have 
laid down a platform on which, as a party, we can stand and assgrt, with a 
confidence backed and sustained by the history of past results, that Democratic 
institutions give progress, pros])erity, and honors to every citizen, whether the 
inmate of a mansion or the humble tenant of a cottage. 

How instructive the lesson, and, withal, how impressive the commentary 
upon the value of the Government in which we live, to find the most venerated 
and ancient monarchies of the Old World, through force of popular moral sen- 
timent, di.'ihroning kings, abrogating' oppressive edicts, and substituting, in lieu 
of both; the forms and piinciples of the model Government on earth ! What 
American citizen, native born or adoj)ted, that does not feel proud America is 
bis home, and the political teachings of such patriarchs as Washington, Jefferson, 
and Jaclvson, the political ciiart by which he steers? 



France, our old and beloved ally in the darkest hour of our revolutionary 
stniggles, has, within a few weeks past, struck the chains and fetters of mon- 
archy from around her, and proclaims to the world her devotion and attachment 
to democratic institutions. And Ireland, oppressed and injured Ireland — how 
long shall it he until she, sccondetl hy the protecting hand of Mini who "tem- 
pers the wind to the shorn lamh," shall proelaiin ht-r emancipation from the 
tyranny, injustice, and inequality that have so long been meted out to a poj)ula- 
tion worthy and deserving a jilace with the njore favored nations of earth ? 
tjod grant, that before the birth of another year, Ireland and France may be 
free — free in the true "American sense of the term." 

A few words, now, in reference to the distinguished nominees of the De- 
mocracy. In presenting to the American people the names of Lkwis Cass 
and \Vir-Li.\.M (). I?itli:u, wc have presented men who stand pledged to a 
certain set of measures ; and the lives of each, in civil and military stations of 
great responsibility, are in themselves proof that they are worthy to be intrusted 
with the high oftlces to which they have been designated. 

If it were possible, in this age of criticism, to have selected two individuals 
whose entire history, public and private, placed them beyond th<! reach of bitter 
party animadversion, then, indeed, have we been fortunate in the choice of our 
candidates. Uniting all those personal qualities that attach one good citizen to 
another, they imbody, each within himself, all the elements of true, tried, and 
faithful Democrats ; each has, at home and abroad, given evidence of his attach- 
ment to Democratic principles, and his willingness and ability to proclaim and 
maintain them. The records of our National Legislative Council bear full, am- 
ple, and unmistakable evidence of their sound republican views on most, if not 
all the great |X)litical questions that interest the country. With such men as 
these at the helm, the good old-fashioned Democratic party have nothing to fear, 
but everything to hope for. 

But how is it with our adversaries — this "universal Whig party," a party 
that is generally much more universal before an election than after it — have 
they nominated a true and iricd Whig, eitiier by practice or profession? (I say 
nothing of their nominee for Vice President ; for of him I know nothing, 
cxcei)t that he derives his principle notoriety from having been a violent Anti- 
Mason in the days of Morgan.) Can any one tell me whether Major General 
Zachary Taylor is a Whig, as Whigery is understood in this latter day and gen- 
eration ? However, this is a delicate point — one upon which consistent INew 
York AVhigs feel very sensitive, and I will not press it. 

That the Whig party had aspirants for these high offices, imbodying all the 
elements of Whig principles, no man can doubt ; nor is it any more to be doubted 
that these men were anxious to be their standard-bearers. The man to whom 
that party owed most — the great leader of it — its founder and builder — so far 
departed from all precedent, that, a few months before the nomination was to 
be made, he came before the country in a letter, imploring, in effect, in the most 
piteous terms, that his party would give him one more and furtlwr trial ; and that 
he whose locks had become whitened in services rendered to his party for the 
last thirty years, might not be thrust aside, in his old age, and forgotten. And 
well might Mr. Clay have pointed to those political warnings he gave his party 
jn 18-27, and cried, "Spare, oh! spare me, in the evening of a life spent in 
your service, the mortification of being superseded by a military chieftain!^' 
In the year referred to, Mr. Clay denounced, in unmeasured terms, the effort 
then making to place General Jack'^on in the Presidential chair; notwithstanding 
General Jackson had then filled various stations of the highest grade, both in 



the legislative and judicial departments of the country, and evinced powers of 
mind that subsequently proved he was, emphatically, the master-spirit of the age 
in which he lived. But Mr. Clay's objection to General Jackson was made 
without reference to his capacity for civil employment ; it was predicated upon 
the ground that the liberty of people forming a government organized as oui-s 
is, was endangered by encouraging " a blind and heedless enthusiasm for 
mere military renown." As many of our ^Vhig friends have very short mem- 
ories, and as some of them desire to be as consistent as the nature of the very 
desperate case they have on hand will permit them to be, I will call their atten- 
tion to an extract from one of the Imbodiment's s{>eeches in 1827 : 

Exlracl of a speech delivered Ui 1827, by Henry Clay, of Kentucky. 
" Regardless of all imputations, and proud of the opportunity of free and unrestrained inter- 
coui-se with all my fellow-citizens, if it were physically possible, and compatible with my official 
duties, I would visit every State, go to every town and hamlet, address every man in the Union, 
and entreat thera, by their love of country, by their love of liberty, for the sake oC themselves 
and their posterity — in the name of their venerated ancestors, in the name of the human family, 
deeply interested in the fulfillment of the trust committed to their hands — by all the past glory 
we have won, by all that awaits us as a nation, if we are true and faithful in gratitude to Him 
who has hitherto so signally blessed us, to pause — solemnly pause — and contemplate the preci- 
pice which yawns before us. If, indeed, we have incurred the Divine displeasure; and if it be 
necessary to chastise this people with a rod of vengeance, I would humbly prostrate myself 
before Him, and implore Him, in His mercy, to visit our favored land with WAR, with PES- 
TILENCE, with FAMINE, with any SCOURGE other than MILITARY RULE, or a blind 
and heedless enthusiasm for mere MILITARY RENOWN!!" 

IMy Whig friends, while upon this branch of the subject, seeing, from th^ 
indications around me, that many of you want an excuse to bolt a nomination 
that threatens a dissolution of the Whig party, and is admitted by all candid 
Whigs to be a total abandonment of Whig principles, I will give you a further 
extract from the great I am, and I commend the latter part of it to the especial 
attention of a new kind of Whigs ; and really you change titles so fast that 
it is difficult for me to keep the run of you. I refer not to Democratic Whigs I 
but Conscience Whigs! ! 

Extract of Mr. Clay's speech at Lexington, Kentucky, June 20, 1827. 
" You were actuated by one of the noblest of virtues. I, too, acknowledge its sway. But 
whilst military merit is no disqualification, but, when accompanied by other requisite attainments,, 
may be a reason for civil promotion — standing, as it appeared to me, alone, I did not think we 
could prudently intrust the Chief Magistracy of this great country to the distinguished object 
of your choice. I felt with you the obligations of national gratitude. But I thought they 
should be fulfilled in other forms. Let the public gratitude manifest itself in just and adequate 
rewards, drawn from the public treasure. Let inspired poets sing the praises of our military 
and naval commanders. Let the chisel and the pencil preserve their faithful images for the 
gratification of the present and future generations. Let the impartial historian faithfully 
record their deeds of glory and renown, for the admiration and the imitation of posterity. I 
say, too, m the la^nguage of a departed sage, • honor to those who fill the measure of their 
country s glory.' But it should be appropriate, considerate honor — such as becon>es its object, 
and such as freemen, jealous, cautious, and enlightened freemen, ought to bestow. If my 
suffrage is asked for the highest civil office of my country, the candidate, however illustrious 
and successful he may be, must present some other title than laurels, however gloriously • 
gathered on the blood-stained field." 

What "other title than military laurels" does General Taylor present ? General 
Taylor says, in one of his many letters, "I am a Whig, though not an ultra 
'one, by any means; nor have 1 ever exercised the privilege of voting; and I 



*care not whether I am iioiniiiated by Whigs, Democrats, or Naiives; but in 
' beiii'f thus nominated, I must insist on the eondition ; and my po'^ilion on this 
' point is immutable, that 1 shall not be brou;.'jil furward by them as the candi- 
' date of their party doctrines." Such langua<,'e as this canies upon its face 
evidence that General Taylor was either ashamed or afraid to intermarry with 
Whigery alone, but, knowing that candidates were never selected by the 
Democratic party without the ''whys and wherefores," he thought the chances 
a little better for \Vhig favor, and thcnefore he leaned just far enough o\er to 
catch the Whig breeze. No man knew better than (Jeutral Taylor that the 
Whig party had been driven to (he wall upon all the old issius, and it would 
require a large amount of bugles and cannon to resurrectiuni/,c them. General 
Taylor has certainly managed very adroitly, though 1 think the secjuel will prove 
that he has w ritten rather too many letters. In his letter of the 3d of August last 
to Mr. Ingersoll, he says: "At the last Presidential canvass, it was well known 
'to all with whom I mixed — Whigs and Democrats, for 1 have no concealm«-nl 
' in the matter — that I was decidedly in favor of Mr. Clay's election, and w(juld 
'now prefer seeing him in that oHice to any individual in the I'nion." 

This letter gave hopes and confidence to .Mr. Clay and his friends, and the 
next thing was, to ascertain whether the General would lake the pledge under 
the conventional system. Accordingly, Mr. Haldwin, of Uichmond, Virginia, 
on the -i-id of April last, asked the General various (juestioiH. I give his reply 
to one of them: General Taylor says, '' 1 do not design to withdraw my name 
' if Mr. Clay should be the nominee of the Whig iVational Convention; and iu 
' this connection, I beg permission to remark, that the statements which have 

* been so positively made in some of the northern prints, to the etlict that 
' should Mr. Clay be the nominee of the Ji'hig i<ational Convention, 1 had stated 
' I would not suffer my name to be used, are not correct, and have no founda- 
' tion in any oral or written remark of mine. It has not been my intention at 
' any moment to change my position, or withdraw my name Irom the canvass, 
' wiioever may be the nominee of the ■^ational Convention, either of the \N big 

* or Democratic party." 

Thus we see, that as the dazzling glare of the Presidency seemed to approach 
nearer the eye of General Taylor, his ardent love of Mr. Clay was smothered ; 
and, bidding defiance to all previous rules for the selection of candidates, he has 
most effectually driven the Whig party from their principles, and compelled them 
to find shelter under the humiliating argument, availability. 

To those who intend to take General Taylor as Mr. Tyler was taken— 
nolens volens — I have nothing to say ; to those, however, w ho supjwrt W lug 
men and measures, believing they are right, I desire to present one other extract 
from the letter of General Ta)lor, written to Mr. Delany, on the 7th of June, 
1847. Mr. Delany asked General Taylor's views in reference ''to a bank of 
the United States, and a protective tariff" — questions that have agitated this 
nation for the last forty yeai-s — que.^lions that it is presumable every man of sound 
mind underetands something, about. General Taylor replies: -I am not prepared 
'to answer these questions; I could only do so after duly investiiraum; those 
'subjects, which 1 cannot now do, my whole time being fully occupied in attend- 

* ing to my projier official duties, which must not be neglected under any circum- 
' stances; and I must say to you, in substance, what I havesaid to others in regard 

* to similar matters — that I am no politician." 

In connection with the admissions of General Taylor, as made in the fore- 
going letter, I refer you to the extracts I have just read from Mr. Clay's speeches, 
in 1827, on military chieftains, and ask, whether it does not fit General Taylor's 



6 

case exactly ? One of two propositions is evidently true : General Taylor is 
either entirely ignorant of all those principles of political economy that sustain 
and keep a i;reat Government like ours in motion ; or, understanding them, he 
rejnidiates the cardinal doctrines embraced by the Whig party, and while he 
is willing to receive their votes, he, is iniwilling, and ahsolutr.li/ refuses, to "be 
brouidit forward by them as the party candidate of their doctrines." In either 
case, he is unwortliy the support of intelligent freemen; and while, under the 
rallvin'j: cry of party, he may receive the suffrages of a majority of those calling 
themselves Whigs, there is a very large and respectable portion of the thinking, 
reasoning men of that party, in every State in this Union, who value their prin- 
ciples and appreciate their reputation for consistency, that will never sacrifice 
one or both by sustaining him. 

I here leave General Taylor, and his peculiar qualifications for the Presi- 
dency, to the tender care and keeping of that portion of the Whig party who 
have put Harry of the West on the political rack, and made a military chieftain 
his executioner. With what truth and propriety can this patriarch and pillar 
of the Whig temple exclaim, " Save, oh ! save me from my friends!" From 
this day forward, sealed be the lips of the revilers of John Tyler; for while the 
sound of wo and lamentation at his alleged treason to the Whig party is yet 
ringing in our ears, we see the same, the very same men who joined in the gen- 
eral bewailment, engaged, and mainly instrumental, in presenting to the coun- 
try a candidate of whom not a man in this audience — not a man in this State 
or out of it — can stand forth and say that he is committed to any one measure 
or set of measures, or, if elected, he will carry out any one of the fundan)ental 
principles by which the Whig party has heretofore professed to be governed. 

Now, let us turn, for a moment, to the condition of things here. It is said 
there is division in tlie great State of New York, and that, therefore, the Dem- 
ocratic nominee cannot be elected. Admitting this divjsion to exist, let me ask, 
how is that to benefit General Taylor? I do not propose to discuss the exci- 
ting question said to be the basis or pretext of division here, involving the rights 
of the States to make their own internal regulations ; but if any portion of the 
citizens of New York seek what is called a " free-territory man," will t'ley find 
him in the person of a man who works, every day, two hundred slaves? I ap- 
prehend the division in this State (if any does exist between Democrats) grows 
out of principle, and that no portion of the party that may be disaffected in con- 
sequence of their dread of the extension of slave territory, can select or go for a 
man who is himself among the largest slaveholders widiin the limits of the Union. 
But the Democratic party can't carry the State of New Yoik, it is said. I will 
not believe that. I have done too much hard work for the Democracy of New 
York ; 1 have seen too much hard work done by the poor and laboring De- 
mocracy of the great Western Valley, and for a candidate presented by and from 
the State of New York, to believe that any portion of the New York Democ- 
racy, .when that great Western Valley, for the first time in the history of the 
Republic, presents their man, their undoubted favorite — a man who has grown 
up with the great West, and become identified with it in feeling, in interest, in 
sentiment — a man true to it and true to the country at all times — tried in many 
responsible and didicult trusts — their friend and fellow when that great West 
was yet a wilderness, — I say I am unwilling, under such circumstances, to lay 
at the door of any portion of the Democracy of New York the black and crying 
sin o( ingratitude. We at the West have sustained your candidates; we have 
done lor them as much as we could have done had they been from among us. 
And when, for the first time, we present our candidate, shall it be said that New 



York, unfaitliful to herself, iiinuenccil ljy local ri-erinijs, prijiidices, or dissen- 
sions, turned her back iij)()n us, and cau-ted our glorious (la;;, ilial lius so long 
floated in triuniph over this Union, to trail in^loriously in the dti>l ? |l>jud 
cries of '* l\o, no. "J I ntnur will believe it until I seo it. If wu hud jiresentcd 
men unworthy of ourselves or of the .-upitori uf our l)LMn(x:ratic brethren of the 
Union, it would have j)resentetl a dilleKJiit case. 

But who can say that Lewis Cass and William O. Butler are nol cntinenily 
worthy of the hi<;hcst honoi-s whieh the Denjocracy of the Union and the 
country have to bestow upon any citizens? I know, ili.it until the dt-aih of that 
distiui^uislifd ntan who was as much beloved and admired by his couutrvnicn 
whilst livini^ as he was universally lamented in death, and as sincen-ly from 
home as at home — 1 say, uj) to the hour of his decease, he was iIk; choice, I 
was about to say, of a majority of the Democracy of the Western \'alley 
for the Presidency. I can say he was my choice, and, had he bc-en living, 
he would have had my vote as the candidate of my party. But l*rovi- 
dence, in its wisdom, ordered otherwise. We were calleil uj)on to ca-^t uIkjuI 
for some other individual of the Democratic party that we considered worthy 
of the high trust to he eonlitied in our candidate. And if that individual i-. nol 
to be found in the person of Lewis Cass, of .Miehii;an, 1 should be f;lad to havo 
the Democrat here who is going to vole against him, come lorward and name 
the man that he prefers to him. [A voice on the outside : " Martin Van Buren."J 
Well, (continued Mr. J^hight.) I have been a friend of Martin Van IJuren. 
I voted for him in the Convention of '14, when others deserted him. lie was 
then my model of a Democrat and an honest man; nor shall I pronounce 
adverse judgment on him, until further developments shall leave me no other 
alternative. I do not believe that he will lend his aid or countenance to any 
effort to defeat the candidates of the Democracy of the Union — one of them a 
man w ho lives my neighbor, w ithin twelve miles of me : I know him well 
I have seen General Butler travel and canvass in behalf of Martin Van Buren 
and that, too, when he would not have done it for himsell. Tell me that Mr 
Van Buren is about to sacrifice the hold he has on the regards of the great Unly 
of his party throughout the Union, by throw ing his weight and influence against 
such a ticket! And would not, ought not, such a course to alienate the great 
body of his party from him": [Cries of ''Yes, yes.''J ^ 1 was saying, that iu 
1844, Mr. Van Buren was my choice for the Presidency; but a majority of the 
Convention of that year declared that another individual should be the nominee. 
Is it not democratic to yield to the majority? Another individual was prefericd 
by the assembled representatives of the Democracy of the nation ; and we 
elected that individual ; and I presume no man was more gratified at tlie re-ult 
than Mr. Van Buren himself. It may be out of place for me to call names ; 
but as Mr. Van Buren was named by some one in the crowd, I felt called upon 
to say that he was my model of a Democrat, until a few months past. 1 do 
not say now that he does not stand w here he has always stood ; but I do say, 
that he is the last man whose name his family, relatives, or friends should pre- 
sent again to the Democracy of the country. [Vehement cheers. j Ufuces 
and honoi-s under the free institutions of America belong to the body of the 
people — not to any one name or family. [Tremendous and enthusiastic chcei-s.j 
It is the duty, nay, it should be the pride, of every Democrat, when he sees 
that his party prefers, or when they even intimate that they prefer another in 
iiis place, to step out of the way and make room. It is by adopting that 
course, and that only, that entire harmony and union can be preserved in 
party organization, and the ascendency of great principles secured and perpel- 



8 

uated. Ill most cases where I have seen the Democratic ascendency weakened, 
it has been the result of a contest over the name of this or that individual — 
never of a contest on principle. It is our duty on this occasion, as Democrats, 
as party men, desiring the elevation of our principles and the prostration of their 
Federal enemies, to forget the past, to bury all internal dissensions, to fix our eyes 
solely on the triumph of the great cause of Democracy, and to march boldly and 
firmly on, one and all, to victory, without reference to troubles existing in the 
family at home. [Cheers long anS loud.] I have no means of knowing what 
may be done in New York ; but I will make a prediction as to the northwestern 
States, and 1 make one that will be verified by the result: We shall carry every 
solitary one of them ! Beginning with Ohio, we shall sweep every State on 
that side of the Ohio and the Mississippi rivers. 1 make a prediction as to my 
own State ; that, too, will be verified : We will carry it against the Whig nominee 
by 10,000 majority. 

A few more words, fellow-democrats, and I am done. I have said thus 
much for the purpose of bearing my testimony to what I considered due to the 
great western Democracy. I have felt it my duty on this occasion, to say what 
we expect of New York, in return for that we have done for her son when 
presented to us as a candidate — the like aid we extended to her. [Cries of 
'• We are with ) ou."] I believe it. Never shall I forget the deep and anxious 
solicitude manifested the other side of the mountains in 1844, to hear from the 
Empire State. Every sister in the Confederacy had spoken to us but New 
York. It was known that our destinies as a party, for the time being, were in 
vour hands. Well do I remember the congregated mass of beings on the banks 
of the Ohio, at the glorious little city I reside in, old and young, Whigs and 
Democrats — the honest yeomanry of the land. Many of them had travelled 
from adjacent counties, all anxiously awaiting the hour for the vessel to come 
that was to bring intelligence from New York — men that never held an office, 
that never expected to hold an office, or desired one. They were true, tried, 
old-fashioned Democrats, with hearts full of hope, and warmed only with a desire 
to see their principles triumphant, and to enjoy the practical blessings to them- 
selves and their country, which they felt would continue to flow from such a 
triumph. Need I tell you, their hearts were gladdened by the result when it 
came, and the shout of joy rung from hill to valley? May we trust, when the 
conflict shall have ended in 1848, the same note of triumph will reach us in 
the West from the great State of New York? [Cries of "It will."] It was 
within the limits of Nev/ York that the light of Heaven first beamed upon my 
eye. I naturally feel no small degree of attachment to my native State, and 
her Democratic citizens. I have faith, and always have had, in the great body 
of the Democratic party of New York. It was here that I received my early 
impressions of the truth and value of Democratic principles. It was, I may 
say, from this State that the very State I now live in borrowed her political 
organization, which has done so much to concentrate the energies and build up 
the Democratic party of that State.. I trust we shall see in New York, at the 
conclusion of this race, what we have seen and gloried in, in contests past and 
gone. If that should be the result, it would of course definitively settle the great 
question of the Presidency. But I make one more prediction: Let New York 
vote as she may, Cass and Butler will be elected, and by a triumphant vote. 
[Cries of "Good," "good," and loud cheering.] 



W46 






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